Why Change UK The Independent Group's branding fails to deliver

The opportunity for a political party name is to give voters a clear shortcut to what the party stands for. Not just its policies, but the feeling, emotion or spirit that the party holds.

Although their politics are increasingly evolving, the Labour Party and Conservative Party’s names are powerful and enduring indications of what each party might stand for. The same cannot be said for “Change UK The Independent Group”, the new pro-EU party recently founded by 11 former Labour and Conservative MPs.

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Despite all the promise and potential energy they’ve built up, the brand they’ve launched this week fails to deliver, and runs the risk of working against them in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, the first true test of their influence.

The party’s name itself is the biggest problem. After all, great brands, political or not, start with a great name. The word “independent” has only a temporary relevance as it describes the state of the party right now, positioning its founders as being independent from their former parties. Also “change” alone is too generic (most parties are about change, one way or another) and needs a lot of work to build any true meaning into it.

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Both elements of the name do nothing to clearly communicate the essence or agenda of the party, or the end goal of what they’re actually about. Championing “independence” in the name also feels extremely short-sighted for another reason: independence is the primary goal of The Independent Group’s main rival, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – and “independence” was the ‘i’ in UKIP.

Rather than independence and change, I’d suggest that a sense of togetherness is closer to the spirit and soul behind this party, from what we’ve seen so far. They want to offer a People’s Vote, keep the UK together, make the EU work better together, and show how people with different ideals can work together. I’m not suggesting that they should be called “The Together Party”. But they do need a name that captures what’s missing in British politics right now: a sense of working and collaborating on a way forward, rather than reinforcing divisions.

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A million remainers showed them what their brand could feel like, at the anti-Brexit march last month. It was about warmth, wit and friendliness. The placards we saw on the streets during the demonstrations had such beautifully crafted language, subtle puns, bold typography and colours that really captured the mood at the time. None of this spirit has translated into the branding for this new pro-remain party.

Which brings us to the logo. Granted, it’s unfair to fully judge it until we’ve seen what the complete intention for it is. But from what has been shown so far, the typography feels “of the government”, not an independent group, and the four solid black bars feel quite brutal, like something has been crossed out, blocked or obscured.

The logo does appear in a variety of different colours on their website and other assets. But what do those colours mean? Diversity of thought? A boldness of opinion? A nod to action? A colourful and positive future? If it’s about any of these things then they need to work a lot harder to tell people about that. And if you’re at the point where you have to describe your logo to an electorate, I’d question its overall effectiveness.

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Political brands need much more sophisticated visual systems. They should see themselves as broadcast brands: carrying messages clearly across multiple media channels, armed with the tools to respond and react to society’s most urgent debates. With that in mind, I can see how the logo could come alive in communications: a graphic intervention to eradicate the things at fault in politics today; a backdrop to highlight voices and comments of change; or it could act as a visual reset - a chance to rewrite the rules from scratch.

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But it can’t do any of these things on its own. You need to work hard to imbue four lines with this kind of meaning, and you need to partner it with clear messaging and naming, which unfortunately they don’t have.

A good example of a political brand with a strong visual system and a solid name are the recent climate-change protests seen across central London. On its own, the aggressive “X” symbol smells slightly of anarchism – but it’s combined with thoughtful copy and a typeface that felt both impactful and handmade.The graphic style emphasised delicacy and knowledge with encyclopaedia prints. But what made it all hang together is the name: “Extinction Rebellion”. You just want to know what it’s about and it feels subversive every time you read it. Together the brand felt thoughtful, creative and accessible.

I hate to say it, but The Brexit Party have tackled their fledgling brand much more successfully than The Independent Group. Most crucially, they nailed the name: it couldn’t be clearer. And, in a way, it conjures up the image of Nigel Farage at his own Brexit party, dancing, pint of bitter in hand. The party’s logo is a bold graphic arrow pointing to the right. It’s not well-crafted, but it’s effective. It acts as a nod to the right and, most importantly, it works with the design of the ballot papers for the upcoming European Elections.

The box next to Nigel Farage’s party will have a big fat arrow pointing voters to it. What will “Change UK The Independent Group” have next to their name? Nothing. The original logo they submitted (a black square bearing the acronym “TIG” and “#change”) was rejected by the Electoral Commission for being “misleading” and for including a link to online content. The four-barred logo we see today was submitted too late for inclusion, which feels like a huge mistake given that these ballot papers are perhaps the most important touchpoint for a political party in its infancy.

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This brings me to the most important point in this whole discussion. The crucial thing for a brand forging its identity is that it needs to have absolute conviction about what it is about. Change UK The Independent Group are now on their second attempt and will very likely need to change it again in the near future. The public will read this sense of confusion, uncertainty and naivety as a reflection of what’s going on internally within the party. But people want clear direction, confidence and conviction from a political party, especially a brand new one – not indecision, lack of clarity, and unhappy visual compromise.

Given all the changes they’re making this late in the game, they should probably consider giving it one more bold change to get it absolutely right and to give the party the best possible chance of success.